Hundreds of people rush to donate blood for victims of deadly El Paso shooting (VIDEOS)
Residents rushed to medical centers in El Paso, Texas, and stood for hours in long lines to donate blood for victims of the mass shooting at a local Walmart store on Saturday, which killed 20 people.
Local media reported that blood donation centers were“overwhelmed” after hundreds answered the calls from police and city officials for people to donate blood for the victims.
Residents and reporters at the scene shared videos on social media of people standing in long lines outside and inside the facilities. Some stood for hours, waiting for their turn to help the victims.
“I went to go donate blood but the facility didn’t have room for any more cars and the streets were flooded with people trying to get in,” one person wrote.
“My mother and I went to donate blood and there is a line of hundreds of people around the block. All standing in 101 degree sun,” another Twitter user said. “People can be wonderful.”
Sandra Ramirez, an anchor at the local KTSM 9 News channel, said that volunteers were bringing pizza, water and energy drinks to people enduring the heat to stand in lines in front of the blood donation centers.
Transport service Lyft, meanwhile, had offered free rides to people wishing to donate blood in El Paso.
The inflow of donors helped nonprofit Vitalant to receive more than 240 units of blood for the victims in just one day, the organization said.
A gunman wielding an AK-style rifle killed 20 people and wounded 26 inside a Walmart next to the Cielo Vista Mall. The suspect – a 21-year-old man – is in custody.
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